The world is changing, and with it, responsibility in all activities of companies is even more important. Responsibility affects the success of companies, because the role of responsibility is constantly becoming more important in business relationships. Sitra recently published megatrends that focus on taking care of well-being, as well as the development and utilization of the economy and technology in a fair and sustainable way, so that nature’s carrying capacity can be restored. According to the megatrend report, we are living in the middle of an ecological sustainability crisis.
The VUCA world has also been talked about in the business world for a few years now. The acronym VUCA comes from the words Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Today, volatility is still created by the corona that is raging around the world, uncertainty is expanded by the difficulty of forecasting various events, such as energy price changes, complexity is increased by complex cause-and-effect relationships, and opportunities are made ambiguous by the difficulty of understanding different occasions and the different way people interpret the same situation. Making decisions in such an environment challenges both public authority and business life.
Solving the global sustainability crisis requires a new kind of thinking. The corona pandemic showed that companies have the ability to change thinking if they want to. Without a new way of thinking and the desire to change operating methods, such a quick transition to remote working would not have been possible. Future-proof thinking in business creates new business opportunities, and on a smaller scale, future-proof thinking can lead new ways of working and be continuous improvement according to lean.
Future sustainability in business is not only limited to the company’s services or products, but also includes the company’s people. In social sustainability, the focus shifts from facilities and working conditions to culture, social relationships and quality of life to mention few. A professional workforce that is doing well, believe in themselves and the company they work for. Highly motivated employees ensure the success of the business in the future as well. In today’s world technological development requires technical know-how more than ever, but at the same time, in order to survive, we need humanity, interpersonal skills and interaction with others. In the VUCA world, it is important to take care of the competence development and change capability in the work community.
Mari Viirelä
Director of Service Sector
Oulu Chamber of Commerce
050 482 2305
mari.viirela@chamber.fi
